Russia……… a country that has always fascinated us, but that we could neither could nor wanted to visit on our own. This nation, unfortunately, is still not ready for "do-it-yourself" trips: there are no equipped rest areas for campers, let alone campsites, there's still too much bureaucracy at the borders, you lose hours and hours, the signs are in Cyrillic and only rarely did we see anything written in English, the police can stop you for nothing and if you don't pay the bribe – sometimes a bottle of wine is enough – they make things very difficult for you with considerable loss of time, very few people speak English, and for now they aren't interested in tourism.
For this trip we had already signed up four years earlier with CC La Granda, which was one of the first camper clubs to organise trips to this destination; unfortunately at the last moment I realised my passport was about to expire and I didn't have time to renew it. This year, after many postponements, we made up our minds: we turned to the agency we had been with in Libya, Girocamper; the cost was fairly high at € 3,460, departure and arrival Tarvisio, duration 30 days. After sending the deposit and then the balance in June, 15 days before departure the agency informed us that, having not reached the minimum number of participants, the tour would not take place, but redirected us to the Russian correspondent (sanpietroburgo.it) which, gathering all the various fragments from other clubs or agencies, managed to complete the necessary number to make the trip.
Instead of Tarvisio, the departure will be at Terespol on the Polish/Belarusian border and the end will be Narva on the Russian/Estonian border; only on this stretch will we be followed and assisted by guides: an Italian speaking Russian and a Belarusian speaking Italian and Russian, all at the price of € 1,750, practically half. We accepted immediately; the itinerary before and after Russia we'll do on our own, visiting anyway the places listed in the Girocamper programme.
I have divided this trip by countries, the Slovakia, with Poland partly on the way out and Częstochowa on the way back, Belarus, Russia divided into Moscow, the Golden Ring, St Petersburg, the Residences, and finally Estonia
Day 16 Jul 2006
338/2379 - Smolensk - Intourist Parking - sun
Departure at 8.30, we leave Minsk on the big avenue and take the E30 motorway towards Moscow, toll, asphalt with the usual ruts from heavy vehicles, you have to slow to 70 km/h in built-up areas, on these motorways there are pedestrian crossings, anyone can use them even by bike. We reach the BY/Russia border at 12.30; while Ugo and Alessia deal with the documents, we have lunch. At 14.30, ahead of schedule, we set off again, not before leaving, as a tip because they were quick, a bottle of wine from each crew. On arrival in Russia we put the clock forward another hour (2 ahead of Italy) In Smolensk we stop for the night in a car park of an Intourist motel, very squalid, next to several articulated lorries.
In the evening we have dinner with other crews (11 € each) in the restaurant, 1950s style with red drapes and booth dividers, then on the terrace we down a couple of bottles of vodka, a few laughs and then everyone off to bed. Tomorrow a tough transfer awaits us, not so much because of the motorway but the entry into Moscow in chaotic traffic, as Ugo warns us.
Golden fountain under the glass vault of GUM department store, Moscow
Day 27 Jul 2006
436/2815 - Moscow - Parking sanpietroburgo.It
Departure at 7.30, we get straight onto the motorway, which in Russia is not tolled; the road surface is sometimes uneven and sometimes new, but very rarely. Lunch stop in a square with lots of stalls selling smoked fish, very nice and full of character; after buying and eating it we regretted not getting more. Plan: visit to Gagarin's bar - we didn't see it. Once we reached the Moscow ring road the chaos began, similar to that on the ring roads in Milan, but with utterly undisciplined drivers. To keep pace with the one ahead of me and follow him in the same lane, I moved abruptly from right to left, cutting off someone coming up behind: I only made him slow down, all hell broke loose, he overtook me and, zigzagging, meant to stop me and probably come to blows.
Seeing all this, the traffic following us slowed down and didn't dare overtake this maniac, then at last he gave up and I was able to catch the others. In this case I reckon a column of 15 vehicles shouldn't keep up a high speed but travel convoy-style, keeping watch, on the right; you'll arrive half an hour later but without accidents. On the ring road no. ….. has cooling problems, hears a very loud noise from the cooling fan, decides to carry on to the car park; through the good offices of a local guide he'll find a mechanic for Monday, today and tomorrow everything is closed. We reach the car park run by the agency, a nice square in the middle of a very green park; unfortunately it's in the sun and very hot. There are power hook-ups for almost every camper, for water, with all of us using extension leads it wasn't a problem, for waste disposal the spot is awkward but doable.
We meet up again with the 10 crews from Lecce we met in Perespol; they are a day ahead of us as regards the Moscow visits. This evening a meeting to explain the tours we'll do in Moscow, and the handover of money (8,000 rubles equivalent to 250 €)
St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow: gilded tomb under ornate canopy, among colorful frescoes
Day 38 Jul 2006
0/2815 - Moscow - Parking sanpietroburgo.It - very hot sun
Departure for the Moscow visit at 9.15. First surprise: the bus isn't there, we take the metro, 10 minutes on foot to the stop. Once in the centre we meet Elena, our guide, a likeable lady who speaks perfect Italian. Unfortunately no. 14's wife isn't feeling well and has to go back to the car park by taxi. Plan: - visit to the Kremlin and its magnificent cathedrals: very beautiful and spectacular - lunch at the Gudonov restaurant: the place is full of character and the lunch is good, very cramped at the table. - visit to Red Square: here the photos go on and on - Manege Square, changing of the guard: we arrived late and the changing of the guard was finishing; visit to the various churches in the area, very beautiful, rich and interesting. - Arbat Street, Moscow's pedestrian zone: we didn't do it Back in the evening by metro, tired and worn out, it's very hot
White velotaxi pedaling along the street next to a Stop sign in Moscow
9.30 departure by metro, Ugo is absent Plan: - Visit to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour: a beautiful and imposing building; no. 4 and no. ….'s child couldn't go in because they were in shorts, at the entrance there's a metal detector, inside you can't take photos. - Visit to the Pushkin Museum: disappointing at first, since you only see copies of famous statues reproduced down to the smallest detail; in the later rooms many beautiful paintings by famous painters from Picasso to Van Gogh. We go back for lunch, not before saying goodbye to Elena, a precious guide.
Return by metro Lunch on the campers At 5 pm a bus takes us back to Moscow Plan: - boat tour on the Moskva: you see Moscow sailing along this great river, part of what we saw yesterday and this morning but from another angle and perspective; you have to take photos right and left because we won't take the boat for the return, the bus is waiting for us at the terminus - bus tour to see Moscow by night: we didn't do it - visit to some metro stations: besides 4 stations, very beautiful, we visited the railway station where the Trans-Siberian also departs (2328 km in 9 days) On the bus no. …… tells Ugo off for doing his own thing and not explaining what is passing by on either side of us — perhaps excessively, but for a fair reason; this morning on the boat too, some explanation of what we were seeing would have been appropriate.
Everyone is itching to watch the Italy/France match; Ugo manages to find a place at a betting centre for 150 rubles each. My wife and I go back with 7 other people. While we were away it must have poured with rain, the square is flooded; being a spot used as a skating rink, probably in winter, the rainwater has no way to drain away. A very unpleasant thing happened: no. 2, probably seeing so much water on the square, thought he'd add that from his grey water tanks, with a resulting sharp protest from the campers from Lecce.
Red arena inside the Moscow Circus with wooden stands and scattered audience
Program: - Free day Tina and others leave for Moscow, I stay and tidy up the camper, unload and load, sort out the logbook, download the photos from no.... to my PC since it had filled up its memory cards, no.... found a mechanic who repaired his breakdown (2500 rubles) Tina had fun in Moscow with other women, went shopping, on Arbat Street there's everything. Towards evening it rained but without cooling things down, today has been a sweltering day, I kept the air conditioning on almost the whole time, plugged into the mains without making noise with the generator.
Peter the Great statue on ship, Moscow, cloudy sky
Day 611 Jul 2006
Departure at 8.30, I get back in line as second, nobody respected the rotation, Ugo after me got randomly onto various campers which then resumed their own numerical position without going through the queue, there were complaints from those who are always in the queue having to chase after the front-runners and those at the front who want to give up their position, then there are those without a CB who can't lead the convoy, who are the most favoured, Ugo does nothing to avoid this chaos and I go back to my place. Leaving Moscow we did some pointless loops, Ugo probably took the wrong road, he says he's done this route more than 20 times, I have my doubts.
CONTINUES on Moscow GOLDEN RING
Golden mosaic of Lenin addressing a crowd, Moscow metro
Day 727 Jul 2006
513 / 6298 – ITALY – Majano – HOME
After the first stretch still under construction in Vienna we take the motorway again that will take us home quickly, the interruption found on the way there was no longer there. The trip to and from Russia is over, it was a great experience, we visited interesting countries and places, of Russia, such a large and vast nation we have only seen a part, I hope that in the future it will be possible to visit it easily far and wide without so much bureaucracy and various constraints.
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